“True Crime News”, hosted by Ana Garcia, starts as a syndication format

Crime pays on the small screen.

The art of crime solving – storytelling in the style of scripts or documentaries, often ripped from the headlines – is nothing new. Trawl 1951, one of the first contributions in this category, American Murder: Laci Peterson on Netflix and the endless expanses in between, we just can't get enough of it. We instinctively want to find out the who, what, when and where to discover what drives criminals. We enjoy unravelling the mystery. We revel in the drama and suspense. And of course, we want justice to be served.

Escapism and entertainment

People are drawn to these stories because they are curious about the criminals' motives, because they are concerned about justice and the legal system, or because they simply get the thrill of solving a real crime. There's just something special about facing danger when it's neither real nor personal.

“True crime stories add an element of another popular genre to the mix – reality,” noted veteran analyst Steve Sternberg, author of The Sternberg Reportwhich provides insights into TV/video programming, audience behavior, and viewing trends, among other things. “While fictional crime stories continue to be a lure for viewers, true crime stories offer an additional intrigue – they are not the product of an author's imagination, they really happened – and they could happen to anyone.”

“The current success of Hulu’s Only murders in the buildingwhich satirizes the popularity of true crime podcasts, is a prime example of how fascinated people are by true crime stories,” he said.

As a result, broadcasters such as Investigation Discovery (ID) and Oxygen have specialized in this format. Both linear and streaming platforms benefit from its appeal. And syndication, which is currently much quieter and introducing new first-run broadcasts (Monday to Friday), has jumped on the bandwagon, thanks to True crime news from Warner Bros. Unscripted Television in association with Telepictures.

True crime news

Moderated by experienced journalist Ana Garcia, True crime news will present current crime stories and always current unsolved cases, covering the full range of every topic. 52 weeks of original broadcasts are planned, and the approvals for the first broadcast amounted to over 98 percent of the district.

True crime news will air on FOX-owned stations, including New York, Los Angeles and Chicago. The show will also air on stations owned by Nexstar, Sinclair, Hearst, CBS, Scripps, Tegna, Sunbeam, Sinclair (GOCOM), Graham Media, Bahakel, Mission, Lockwood, Block, Allen Media, Standard Media and Winston. And the schedule for most stations is True crime news either as an introduction or as a lead-in to the local or network news.

According to the official True crime news Logline: “From urgent calls to action for fugitive criminals and missing persons to breathtaking moments caught on camera, True crime news delivers a daily dose of compelling stories that keep viewers hooked. This unique storytelling style combines compassion for the victims with a tireless commitment to uncovering the truth.”

The growth of true crime

“I think everything changed after the OJ Simpson trial because that was the first time people were able to watch a trial from start to finish,” says Ana Garcia, who started her career anchoring the 6 p.m. news for KNBC in Los Angeles from 2000 to 2013. “Everyone was riveted because here was a superstar athlete that people idolized accused of murdering his ex-wife and her friend.”

On October 3, 1995, an estimated 100 million people watched on live television as Simpson was acquitted of two counts of murder in the deaths of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman.

Hone your skills as an investigative journalist

Ana Garcia is familiar with this format. She is an Emmy Award-winning journalist and the True crime news Podcast and the accompanying YouTube show. She is a contributor to ABC's 20/20which like 48 hours on CBS and Date line on NBC successfully moved from general news to the true crime genre. And she was a correspondent for the recently syndicated strip Daily crime monitoringwhich moved to the website of the same name (and was renamed True crime news in preparation for the new syndicated series).

“The paparazzi changed the way we cover crime, and that was the birth of Court TV and all the channels that specialize in showing trials live,” she added. “And it just kept going up. There's just an insatiable appetite for true crime stories.”

Through cooperation with local partner editorial offices True crime news will integrate local crime cases and give broadcasters the opportunity to promote their stories nationally.

“These broadcasters have the profile and access to the specific details of these cases, which is invaluable, but they may need help getting national attention to move the case forward. That is where True crime news comes into play,” Garcia noted. “We also already have the largest digital footprint of any true crime site. We have a podcast, a YouTube channel and an existing website. Easy access; everything is under one brand.”

Warner Bros. reports an estimated 3.1 billion digital views in True crime news Community brand and to date over 30 million podcast downloads per year.

“As a daily show, we will bridge the gap between local crime reporting and crimes of national interest, shining a spotlight not only on the true crimes in today’s headlines, but also on murder, mysteries, fraud, scams and con artists,” said Albert Lewitinn, showrunner and executive producer of True crime news in a statement. “We will explore each case in a compelling way that sparks conversation and makes viewers feel drawn into the real mysteries unfolding before their eyes every day.”

Example cases for True crime news

A previous case on the True crime news On the agenda is the infamous death of JonBenét Ramsey in 1996. JonBenet was six years old when she was reported missing from her Colorado home. Tragically, she was later found dead in that home, and an autopsy determined the cause of death was strangulation.

“Nearly 30 years later, the case is still unsolved. According to John Ramsey, there are at least seven pieces of evidence that have never been tested for DNA,” Garcia noted. “The evidence tested for DNA back then was done with very old technology compared to what is available today. That's why he's calling for a re-examination of the evidence and a brand new examination of things that were never tested, such as the ransom note.”

“Can you imagine what we could find out about this case with today’s technology?”

A recent case to be presented True crime news is Mike Williams, who was initially believed to have drowned in 2000 during a hunting trip to Lake Seminole, a large reservoir on the Georgia-Florida border. His mother Cheryl suspected he may have been the victim of a crime elsewhere, and his body was found near Tallahassee, Florida, in October 2017.

“Cheryl and I still talk to each other today. And these are the stories we're going to portray,” Garcia noted. “The sad reality of our work is that there's never a shortage of stories.”

Jeremy Spiegel and Theresa Coffino, executive producers of the long-running entertainment news show Extra, are also executive producers of True crime news.

True crime news Premieres on Monday, September 9. Check your local stations for broadcast times.